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Bonneville United F.C.
| dissolved = | ground = Ford Stadium | capacity = 33,700 | owner = United Football Holdings, Ltd. | chairman = Benjamin Fink | manager = Yann-Marc Kleffer | coach = | currentleague = League A | currentposition = | lastseason = | lastleaguea = League A | lastposition = 2nd | current = | website = | firstgame = | largestwin = | worstdefeat = | topscorer = | fansgroup = | honours = | American = }} Bonneville United Football Club is a professional football club based in Bonneville, Dauphinique Province, St. Gregory. The team plays in League A, the top tier of the St. Gregory Football Association. The club was formed in 1988 as a result of a joint venture between the North Bonneville and West Bonneville clubs, who agreed to merge at the conclusion of the 1987-88 season. The new club adopted colors of navy blue and white, taken from the colors of North and West Bonneville, respectively (which in turn were taken from the French Tricolour). Bonneville United are the most successful club in SGFA history, having won a record 11 League A titles and 7 SGFA Cups in their 31 seasons of play; they are also 8-time winners and current holders of the SGFA Shield. They have a traditional local rivalry with New Castle, as well as rivalries with FC Chapman since the mid-1990s and Rivergate in more recent years. Since 1996, the team has played at the 33,700-seat Ford Stadium on Bonneville's west side, which is the largest club stadium in St. Gregory and the largest dedicated football stadium in the Caribbean. In terms of membership, attendance and revenue, Bonneville United are the biggest sports club in the Caribbean and the largest football club in the United States or its territories. The club also operates a women's team, who were champions of the inaugural Women's League A season. History Pre-United :See also: North Bonneville F.C. and West Bonneville F.C. The SGFA was founded in 1979 with six professional teams, three of which were from the city of Bonneville: North Bonneville, West Bonneville and East Bonneville. All three clubs – who each took one color from the French Tricolour: blue, white and red, respectively – had been jointly founded in 1973 and previously played in the amateur League of Southern St. Gregory before leaving to join the new professional league, the SGFA Championship (now known as League A). North Bonneville were champions of the inaugural SGFA Championship season, 1979-80, and won it a second time in 1983-84. They also won the second edition of the SGFA Cup in 1981-82. In addition to their two league titles, North finished as runners-up five times. West Bonneville, meanwhile, struggled both on the pitch and financially. The club finished third in 1980-81 but never bettered that result. In 1984-85, they finished last out of eight teams for the first time. The 1985-86 season saw a repeat of their last-place finish; with that season being the first to introduce promotion and relegation, West were relegated to League B. The team never returned to League A. North-West merger By the midway point of the 1987-88 League B season, it was becoming clear that West Bonneville would struggle to stay afloat going forward. The club battled to a 4th place finish in the second tier, however debts were mounting and attendance had dwindled. In April 1988, officials from the North and West clubs met to discuss a potential merger. Those talks continued in earnest following the conclusion of the season and on June 23, the SGFA approved the merger and allowed the new club, which would be named Bonneville United, to inherit North Bonneville's place in League A, as North were essentially acquiring West's assets. West were removed from League B and an expansion club, Midland International, took their place. Despite the nature of the merger, Bonneville United does not consider itself a continuance of North Bonneville and does not recognize North Bonneville's trophies as part of its history. Early years (1988-92) At both a playing and administrative level, there were growing pains as the former rivals now collaborated on a joint effort. United finished third in League A in their inaugural season, 1988-89, one place higher than North had finished the previous season, but behind their cross-town rivals, New Castle, and some distance behind league champions, Manorham. In the summer of 1989, the club signed former Aston Villa midfielder Tim Callaghan, one of the first major signings for an SGFA club. Richard Berghuis era (1992-2002) In the 1992 off-season, the club interviewed several candidates for the managerial position before deciding on Dutchman Richard Berghuis, who introduced the totaalvoetbal ("total football") style of play to St. Gregory for the first time. Berghuis named Callaghan as club captain and built a 3-4-1-2 formation around him, allowing Callaghan to direct the play while others rotated positions around him. The effect was immediate; United would finish the 1992-93 League A season 9 points clear of New Castle to claim their first League A championship. The following season would see Berghuis further bolster the United squad by bringing in several talented players from his homeland, including striker Jan van Amstel, midfielder Dirk van Vuuren and winger Alexander Mesman. Although United failed to defend their League A title, finishing third behind first-time champions CGC Red Stars, they reached the 1994 SGFA Cup Final where they were defeated by Manorham. van Vuuren left United during the transfer window midway through 1994-95 and Ukrainian midfielder Mikhail Kravets was signed as his replacement, becoming the first player from the former Soviet Union to join an SGFA club. The team once again reached the SGFA Cup Final in 1995 and were again matched up against Manorham. This time, United would have their revenge, winning 1-0 to claim their second trophy under Berghuis. In addition to the first team, Berghuis carefully oversaw development of players through the United Academy. In 1995, he promoted 16-year-old Greg Holloway to the reserve team. Holloway would go on to make his first team debut two seasons later and become one of United's most prolific goalscorers and the face of the club for years to come. In 2001-02, United became the first (and as of 2017-18, still the only) League A team to go an entire season undefeated, winning 25 matches and drawing the other 5 en route to their then-fifth league title. They also won the SGFA Cup that season, defeating Calabria in the final, and thus are the only Gregorian team to complete an entire professional season undefeated. Stadium :See also: Ford Stadium and Bonneville Oval Bonneville United's home ground is the City of Bonneville Stadium, known as Ford Stadium for sponsorship reasons. The stadium is situated in the central-west part of the city and has been United's home ground since the 1996-97 season, when the club moved from Bonneville Oval, which had been the home of North Bonneville F.C.. Bonneville Oval had been selected as the home for United for their first season in 1988-89 as it was a larger facility than Parc de l'Ouest, where West Bonneville F.C. had played. Even so, with a capacity of 17,500 it quickly proved far too small to meet with demand for tickets, and by 1990 the club and the city were in talks to build a new stadium. In 1991, the city approved a plan for a new 30,000-seat stadium, which would make it the largest football stadium in the Caribbean. Ground was broken on June 28, 1993, and on August 26, 1996, the City of Bonneville Stadium officially opened. The facility was renamed Ford Stadium shortly afterward when Ford Motor Company purchased a naming rights deal, which remains in place today. The capacity of the stadium is currently 33,700. Colors, crest and nickname Bonneville United's identity is heavily tied to the French roots of the city. The team are known as Les Bleus (The Blues), a name they share with the France national team and one they inherited when they adopted the all-blue kits of North Bonneville; the all-white kits of West Bonneville served as a trim color for the new club's home uniforms, as well as the basis for the away. These colors were, in turn, taken from the [[Wikipedia:Flag of France|French Tricolore]] (the city's third professional club, East Bonneville, wear red). In the 1990s, the club adopted teal as a tertiary color, mainly in the form of a trim color on the home and away kits. Teal disappeared from the club's branding in 1999 when adidas took over from Umbro as the kit supplier, but returned in 2017 as the basis of an alternate kit, the first third kit in club history. The 2015-16 Bonneville United kit featured 10 sublimated horizontal stripes down the front of the jerseys, one for each of the 10 League A titles the club had won to that point. For 2017-18, United's 30th season of League A football, the team introduced pearl gold as a trim color on the home kits and as the primary color of the away kit; this marked the first time United had not used white as the base of its away kit. United are sometimes referred to as Les Explorateurs (The Explorers), which was also West Bonneville's nickname, by fans who previously followed that club prior to the merger. United's crest features a white silhouette of an explorer to pay homage to the western part of their heritage. Kit manufacturers and sponsors Support Bonneville United are reputed to be the most supported club in St. Gregory and have the highest average home attendance of any club in the Caribbean, primarily due to having the largest stadium in the region. The club recognizes two official supporters groups, The Armada and Le Coin Bleu (The Blue Corner). While both groups are officially bilingual, Le Coin Bleu consists of more French-speaking supporters than The Armada. United is overwhelmingly (more than 80%, according to a 2016 survey) the favored club among Bonneville's Francophone and Afro-Caribbean communities, many of whom are concentrated in the city's inner neighborhoods. The club, through former players like Kane O'Bray, has a long history of outreach in Bonneville's lower-income areas. Rivalries :Main articles: Bonneville derby, Bonneville United F.C.-FC Chapman rivalry and Big Three Bonneville United's longest and most notable rivalry is with their nearest major neighbors, New Castle, against whom they contest the Bonneville derby. This rivalry goes back to United's pre-merger origins and also predates the formation of the SGFA. In the early 1990s, United formed competitive rivalries with Manorham and Zane Hills as those clubs (along with New Castle) most often challenged United for league and cup honors. The rivalry with Zane Hills was especially highlighted by the competition between two central midfielders, Tim Callaghan of United and Paul Wiggins of Zane Hills, who despite their off-field friendship were fierce competitors when they faced one another. In the mid-1990s, United and FC Chapman began a fiercely competitive rivalry that continues to the present day. Since 1996, Chapman have won 9 League A titles, second only to United's 11, and both teams are perennial championship contenders. While not considered a traditional rival, Rivergate have also recently challenged United for domestic honors and the short proximity between the two cities has added to the competitive nature between the two clubs' fan bases. Players Current squad : As of August 15, 2019 Note: Players without a flag are from St. Gregory. Players with an asterisk (*) are from outside the United States or its territories, or have represented a non-U.S. territory at international level, but hold either citizenship or permanent residency in the U.S. and thus do not count towards the league cap on foreign players. Out on loan Reserves and Academy :Further information: Bonneville United F.C. Reserves and Academy Former players :Further information: Category:Bonneville United F.C. players Management and support staff Managerial history :Further information: Category:Bonneville United F.C. managers Honors * League A :*'Champions (11)': 1992-93, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2017-18 :*''Runners-up (8): 1994-95, 2000-01, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2015-16, 2018-19 * 'SGFA Cup' :*'Winners (7): 1994-95, 1996-97, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2005-06, 2015-16, 2018-19 :*''Runners-up (4): 1990-91, 1993-94, 2011-12, 2016-17 * 'SGFA Shield :*'Winners (10)': 1993, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019 Women's club :Main article: Bonneville United W.F.C. Bonneville United W.F.C. is the women's professional football club affiliated to Bonneville United. The club was founded in 2015 after the formation of Women's League A and finished as champions of the league's inaugural season. The team play their home matches at the Lainey Place Sportplex. Category:Club pages Category:Bonneville United F.C.